#23 Oklahoma State @ Kansas

Monday, February 8th 8:00 PM CT, ESPN

Newly unranked Kansas (12-7, 6-5) is continuing its downward slide as the Jayhawks suffered an offensive beatdown from West Virginia over the weekend. While Kansas has struggled offensively for much of their season, their defense has typically been a consistent strong point. That was certainly not the case against the Mountaineers, as they gave up 91 points. They now have to face #23 Oklahoma State (12-5, 5-5) who already beat the Jayhawks earlier in the season and are fresh off of an 8 point victory over top 10 Texas. Even with Cade Cunningham having a terrible shooting day (5 of 22 from the field), the Cowboys showed they’re more than a one trick pony. I like OSU here—they have shown more fight and have already beaten the Jayhawks once. Phog Allen isn’t the same level of daunting without a full crowd.

78-71 Oklahoma State

#13 Texas @ Kansas State

Tuesday, February 9th 7:00 PM CT, ESPN+

#13 Texas (11-5, 5-4) suffered a devastating loss to Oklahoma State over the weekend. That more or less eliminates Texas from the race for a Big 12 title, as Baylor is now ahead by four less losses and the Longhorns sit behind West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech in the conference standings. Kansas State (5-15, 1-10) hasn’t tasted victory since last year, and I don’t expect that to change in this game, even if the Longhorns are disappointed. Texas won by 15 the last time these two teams faced off.

73-60 Texas

#14 West Virginia @ #7 Texas Tech

Tuesday, February 9th 8:00 PM CT, ESPN

Both #7 Texas Tech (14-5, 6-4) and #14 West Virginia (13-5, 6-3) scored major victories last week, as the Red Raiders defeated top 10 Oklahoma and Kansas State and the Mountaineers took care of business against Iowa State and then-ranked Kansas. That has positioned West Virginia as second in the conference and Texas Tech as fourth by a razor thin margin. Realistically, no team has a good shot at overtaking Baylor for the regular season title barring something wild, but this game could go a long way toward determining where these teams finish in the upper half of the conference. West Virginia beat the Red Raiders only four games ago by one point. However, this game is now in Lubbock and the Red Raiders have looked improved since that game. I like Tech by just under double figures.

77-69 Texas Tech

Iowa State @ TCU

Tuesday, February 9th 8:00 PM CT, ESPNU

The good news for Iowa State (2-11, 0-8) is that they have been showing some fight since returning a number of their key players. They kept it close with both West Virginia and Oklahoma last week. The bad news is the Cyclones still don’t have a conference victory, with their last win of any variety coming last year. If Iowa State plays with the same intensity they did against WVU and OU last week, they could have a shot against TCU (10-7, 3-5). The Horned Frogs have been highly inconsistent this season, beating Oklahoma State in their last game. I’ll pick TCU because they are the better team, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if Iowa State ended up pulling this off.

65-61 TCU

Iowa State @ Kansas

Thursday, February 11th 7:00 PM CT, ESPN+

Iowa State drew the short end of the stick this week, as they have to travel to Lawrence from Fort Worth to make up their postponed game against Kansas two days after their game against TCU. While Kansas might not defeat Oklahoma State (as I predicted above), they will almost certainly be able to defeat the Cyclones to get a little more momentum flowing back toward their side. If the Jayhawks were to lose this game, I would have serious concerns about an unprecedented season collapse by Kansas. But I don’t see that happening.

82-74 Kansas